Atkins not working!!!

Female, 22, 173 pounds, 5ft6. Last year I weighed 221 pounds, lost it through low calorie, then Atkins then Dukan.I'm now back on Atkins after a little indulgence (and a 7 pound weight gain over Xmas)I'm following the rules verbatim, hitting the treadmill every day.Day one, lost a poundDay two, lost a quarter of a poundDay three, gained half a poundShouldn't the weight be dropping off me?Getting a little disheartenedAny advice?

I tried Atkins with my mom, as well as my step dad and my partner. We all lost weight the first few weeks - was very exciting at first - getting to eat bacon and cheese, it was heaven. But then the weight loss stopped and i started gaining, realised i couldnt eat all the fats i wanted. then i started feeling really restricted with food choices/cooking. would walk around super markets wondering WHAT THE HELL CAN I EAT!! its not just the bread and pasta i missed its that there are carbs in certain veggies and fruit and yoghurt! it gets boring and its not very practical. The reason i ended up giving up on it for good was when my moms cardiologist said she was going to kill herself if she didnt stop with Atkins diet! I think in the long run if you dont eat bad fats you will lose weight. But as soon as you touch a carb the weight goes right back. you loose the first few weeks because its water weight you are losing. Carbs retain water - Atkins himself admitted this in his book. if you ask me - dont cut out any food group, dont follow any diet, just try be balanced in all of the food groups. the calorie counting way is muuuuuuch better because its basic math - what you put in vs what you put out. No sitting there wondering if its going to work. Besides, more variety means you dont feel as deprived and its healthier for your heart! its not about you failing on a diet its the diet failing you.

The reason i ended up giving up on it for good was when my moms cardiologist said she was going to kill herself if she didnt stop with Atkins diet! I think in the long run if you dont eat bad fats you will lose weight.

Your mom's cardiologist is seriously misinformed. Study after study shows that a low carb diet is heart-healthy. It is very common for patients to show up at their doctor's office for a checkup, having lost weight on a low carb diet, all their blood work looking great. The doctor asks them what they are doing, and they say they have gone low carb. Despite their improved health, the doctor will try to force them to go back to the extremely high carb diet that was wreaking havoc on their bodies.

The idea that if you don't eat "bad fats" you will lose weight is one of the reasons why obesity is so prevalent in our culture today, as people stuff themselves on food that doesn't contain "bad fats" and then reward themselves with sugary treats for being "so good".

I tried Atkins with my mom, as well as my step dad and my partner. We all lost weight the first few weeks - was very exciting at first - getting to eat bacon and cheese, it was heaven. But then the weight loss stopped and i started gaining, realised i couldnt eat all the fats i wanted. then i started feeling really restricted with food choices/cooking. would walk around super markets wondering WHAT THE HELL CAN I EAT!! its not just the bread and pasta i missed its that there are carbs in certain veggies and fruit and yoghurt! it gets boring and its not very practical. The reason i ended up giving up on it for good was when my moms cardiologist said she was going to kill herself if she didnt stop with Atkins diet! I think in the long run if you dont eat bad fats you will lose weight. But as soon as you touch a carb the weight goes right back. you loose the first few weeks because its water weight you are losing. Carbs retain water - Atkins himself admitted this in his book. if you ask me - dont cut out any food group, dont follow any diet, just try be balanced in all of the food groups. the calorie counting way is muuuuuuch better because its basic math - what you put in vs what you put out. No sitting there wondering if its going to work. Besides, more variety means you dont feel as deprived and its healthier for your heart! its not about you failing on a diet its the diet failing you.

I have to agree with no dieting...just eat better and portion control.

I was on a low carb diet for six months, at it was great at first..first few pounds, get to eat all this stuff-until I got really ill from it. Inflamed kidney, weird pressure head aches, burning sensation in my heart (!)and my energy levels were so low, I could barely drag myself out of bed. I felt and looked terrible, doctors didn't know what was wrong or why I had an inflammation(always healthy as a horse, me). And after starting to be nauseous after yet another meal I had to face, I had enough-I changed my diet(well, I didn't know the diet was the problem, or I would have stopped a lot sooner, of course. I just couldn't face another chop..). The very day after, I felt immediately better. And the day after that, better again. Kidney fine, heart fine, head fine, energy back. tummy flat, weight is dropping. Now, I don't eat sugar or wheat either, though, so I think I hit (for me) a good balance. People are different, I suppose, and have different dietary requirements. I'd say eat no "crap" (white flour, sugar, crisps, etc) and you should be ok. Other people do well on low-carb; I wasn't one of them. And I'd rather be healthy than skinny anyday. I missed my fruit!

You could you be leptin resistant. Many overweight people have this problem due to poor diet rich if bad fats, refined carbs, etc. Here's a link to a great article on leptin and watch the video at the end (love that guy!), it truly explains how leptin works to help your body regulate appetite, fat storage:

I like to follow the advice of some experts who feel leptin works best when you are not constantly eating (gives leptin time to do it's thing). I eat 3 meals, each meal sustains me for 4-5 hours. I also never eat 3-4 hours before bed (leptin burns fat while you sleep). Since doing this, I've been losing more weight where I thought I was at a standstill.

I also spent a considerable amount of time balancing my diet from a cereal/cracker/bread/pasta overload to good proteins, good fats and a sizeable amount of veggies (6-9 serviings of greens and veggies from a variety of colors daily). I limit my bread/ceral/pasta to just a serving or two each day. Sure I have bad foods but they are only on occasion

Are you drinking 6-8 glasses of water each day? Have you sorted your calories. Are you eating between 4-6 ozs of protein at each meal? Are you eating between 12-15 of your 20 carbs on green veggies? I found that when I do Atkins correctly, I will lose about 5lbs in the first week and only if I stick to a certain amount of calories (1100) for me, the weight will come off. For me, it was between 1-2lbs per week which I consider safe. HTH.

a swedish study on 48000 women over 15 years who were on low carb diets showed much higher incidences of heart attack and stroke.

Man evolved to eat a wide variety of food stuffs from all the food groups i doubt many cavemen spent their mornings peeing on ketostix.eat healthy food from all groups dont eat more than you burn off

and exercise regularly

Got the link to that study?

Humans actually evolved eating mostly meat and other animal products, radiochemical analysis of fossils has shown. Even modern stone age tribes eat far fewer carbohydrates than "civilized" people, who may eat up to 90% of their diet as carbs like wheat, corn, or refined sugar.

the Author asked for "ANY ADVICE" the advice from two of us who appear to have made very good progress is dont bother with unbalanced unsustainable nonsense and follow just eat better with portion control and throw in a bit of regular exercise to boot.

The author may choose to or choose not to accept that advice thats down to them?

a swedish study on 48000 women over 15 years who were on low carb diets showed much higher incidences of heart attack and stroke.

Man evolved to eat a wide variety of food stuffs from all the food groups i doubt many cavemen spent their mornings peeing on ketostix.eat healthy food from all groups dont eat more than you burn off

and exercise regularly

Got the link to that study?

Humans actually evolved eating mostly meat and other animal products, radiochemical analysis of fossils has shown. Even modern stone age tribes eat far fewer carbohydrates than "civilized" people, who may eat up to 90% of their diet as carbs like wheat, corn, or refined sugar.

see the guardian newspaper published this sunday just gone with a group doctors stating the health interventions they would never undertake including such things as :Health screening and IVF. One doctor said they would never go on a LOW CARB diet because despite losing weight the risk of stroke and heart attack increases over time and quoted the swedish study i have quoted

The KITAVANS might disagree with you regarding eating low carbohydrates seeing as about 80% of their diet is carbohydrate and they have excellent health and low bodyfat to go with it

People seem to think there is a magic bullet, some amazing dietary aid or potion that will help them reach there goals when NO scientically controlled WARD Study experiment has ever shown an advantage for a low carb diet over any other when calories were the same in all diets.

its not rocket science eat healthily exercise and eat less than you expend, and i never claimed to be the only person to have made very good progress have I?

I have found that between "experts" who have a financial stake in certain treatments, "researchers" whose studies must produce pre-ordained results in order for them to get financing from agribusiness or pharmaceutical companies, and lazy reporters who don't even bother to read the abstract let alone the studies they are reporting on, the popular media often churns out stories that claim a study showed the opposite of what the paper actually says happened.

More than once you have claimed to be an expert on weight control based on having been on a single diet in your life.

There is a Dr for an argument as there is a Dr against. Personally i don't believe everything i read in a paper. Yes there is no magic bullet and any diet is a tool to assist in achieving a personal goal. As I've stated we are all different, there are some who achieve their goal with atkins as there are others who do it differently. Neither route is wrong but neither can say theirs is the right way

Thanks, jlbenitz - Since I restarted Monday I have been expanding my eating and not just limiting it to the MIMs. It was a good way for me to start though. They fill me up and I don't want the other ...